Zearfoss Takes Big $6,000 Payday At Park Jefferson; First Race Held Since Coronavirus Started

Story By: PARK JEFFERSON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY – NORTH SIOUX CITY, SD – It was just another typical night of April racing action at the Park Jeffeson Speedway in Jefferson, South Dakota on April 25th.

Drivers came in and paid their pit passes. The dirt was black and heavy. Rain showers danced around the racetrack. And 64 open wheeled machines burnt menthanol and Hoosier tires and then hammered their way around the Union County oval. What made this event different was there was no fans, no announcer, and the interest of the world watching as the Park Jefferson Speedway opened its 2020 season.

When it was all said and done, a Posse member took $6,000 back home to prove that the boys from the east can pick up wins off the porch, and an Arizona transplant from Iowa showed a true bit of skill. Most important to many of the race teams and fans was a chance to feel “normal” in a challenging time.

In the Sprint Cars, it was Brock Zearfoss who invaded into the heartland to pick up a huge $6,000 paycheck to take home and make the trip west worthwhile. On a track made fast and heavy under the watchful eyes of the Morgan and Clift duo, Zearfoss saw lady luck on his side as a host of other racers struggled with mechanical gremlins to find a way to the checkers.

On the outset of the 25 lap feature event, it was Australian Kerry Madsen and Parker Price Miller who got the jump on the field after a handful of cautions. PPM assumed the point until a Aaron Reutzel charged past Madsen and then slid around Price Miller to take the lead when a yellow flag came out. Price Miller regained the lead at the restart but exited with five laps to go.

On the restart it was Zearfoss who made his move on the high side and raced to checkers ahead of Kerry Madsen, Austin McCarl, Ian Madsen and Channin Tankersley. Quick time was set by Aaron Reutzel setting a new track record of 12.692 which was just over 113 miles per hour. Heats were won by Blake Hahn, Kyle Offill, Scotty Thiel and Brendan Mullen. Jake Blackhurst picked up the B Main.

In the IMCA Modified night cap it was The Reaper Ricky Thornton Jr. who came from mid-pack to walk away with the checkered flag.

At the start it was local driver Sean Barragan who got the jump from outside row 1 over local veteran Jim Cole. Barragan and Cole, who have had many battles, raced away while Thornton, Sioux Cities’ Chris Abelson and Kelly Shryock all got the jump on the field battling for third.

An early caution collected a large number of back markers in a wicked metal twisting accident that saw nine cars involved and five damaged too heavily to continue. At the restart it was Adel, Iowa’s Thornton who challenged Barragan and jumped to a lead he would never relinquish.

Jeff Taylor had an impressive showing in second followed by Robby Sawyer who came from fourteenth, Chris Abelson and the flying farmer Jim Thies. Heats were won by Thies, Cole, Matt Bonine and Jeff Taylor with Grey Ferrando picking up the B Main.

A large amount of sponsorship was raised and provided to drivers throughout the event which will be updated later today, including event sponsor Real Geese Decoys. A special thanks goes to Kevin Rudeen for his huge contributions. Rudeen along with Front Row Promotions Terry McCarl and Park Jeffersons Adamson family also made a $1,500 to the Beresford, South Dakota food bank as a show of support for local causes.

4/25/2020 at Park Jefferson International Speedway

410 Sprint Cars

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]; 2. 2-Kerry Madsen[1]; 3. 17A-Austin McCarl[8]; 4. 18-Ian Madsen[6]; 5. 17G-Channin Tankersley[9]; 6. 39N-Anthony Macri[5]; 7. 88-Kyle Offill[13]; 8. 73-Jake Blackhurst[20]; 9. 14-Jody Rosenboom[19]; 10. 2KS-Chad Boespflug[10]; 11. 35L-Cody Ledger[21]; 12. 44-Chris Martin[17]; 13. 44N-Dylan Norris[23]; 14. 64-Scotty Thiel[14]; 15. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 16. 14P-Parker Price Miller[2]; 17. 21K-Kameron Key[24]; 18. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[12]; 19. 26-Cory Eliason[7]; 20. 47-Brant O’Banion[18]; 21. 91-Anthony Fiore[22]; 22. 11M-Brendan Mullen[15]; 23. 52-Blake Hahn[11]; 24. (DNF) 9N-Wade Nygaard[16]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 73-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 2. 35L-Cody Ledger[8]; 3. 91-Anthony Fiore[1]; 4. 44N-Dylan Norris[3]; 5. 21K-Kameron Key[5]; 6. 05-Colin Smith[6]; 7. 8-Jack Croaker[4]; 8. 51A-Elliot Amdahl[9]; 9. (DNF) 14R-Sean Rayhall[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 2. 39N-Anthony Macri[4]; 3. 47-Brant O’Banion[1]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 5. 18-Ian Madsen[5]; 6. 14-Jody Rosenboom[3]; 7. 8-Jack Croaker[7]; 8. (DNF) 35L-Cody Ledger[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Kyle Offill[2]; 2. 21-Carson Short[1]; 3. 17G-Channin Tankersley[4]; 4. 21K-Kameron Key[7]; 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard[3]; 6. 2-Kerry Madsen[6]; 7. 51A-Elliot Amdahl[8]; 8. (DNF) 27-Carson McCarl[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Scotty Thiel[2]; 2. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 3. 2KS-Chad Boespflug[4]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason[5]; 5. 14P-Parker Price Miller[6]; 6. 91-Anthony Fiore[3]; 7. 05-Colin Smith[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11M-Brendan Mullen[1]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 4. 17A-Austin McCarl[5]; 5. 73-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 6. 44N-Dylan Norris[2]; 7. 14R-Sean Rayhall[7]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:12.692[31]; 2. 2-Kerry Madsen, 00:12.771[22]; 3. 14P-Parker Price Miller, 00:12.840[11]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:12.909[26]; 5. 18-Ian Madsen, 00:12.962[4]; 6. 27-Carson McCarl, 00:12.986[15]; 7. 26-Cory Eliason, 00:13.025[7]; 8. 17A-Austin McCarl, 00:13.058[1]; 9. 39N-Anthony Macri, 00:13.087[3]; 10. 17G-Channin Tankersley, 00:13.120[27]; 11. 2KS-Chad Boespflug, 00:13.280[30]; 12. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:13.292[28]; 13. 14-Jody Rosenboom, 00:13.323[23]; 14. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 00:13.326[10]; 15. 91-Anthony Fiore, 00:13.350[6]; 16. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 00:13.359[17]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:13.359[14]; 18. 88-Kyle Offill, 00:13.362[13]; 19. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:13.401[21]; 20. 44N-Dylan Norris, 00:13.470[19]; 21. 47-Brant O’Banion, 00:13.500[16]; 22. 21-Carson Short, 00:13.512[2]; 23. 44-Chris Martin, 00:13.528[18]; 24. 11M-Brendan Mullen, 00:13.630[29]; 25. 8-Jack Croaker, 00:13.719[24]; 26. 21K-Kameron Key, 00:13.761[20]; 27. 05-Colin Smith, 00:13.819[5]; 28. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 00:13.885[25]; 29. 35L-Cody Ledger, 00:13.941[12]; 30. 51A-Elliot Amdahl, 00:14.618[8]

IMCA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[7]; 2. 5-Jeff Taylor[11]; 3. 198-Robby Sawyer[14]; 4. 1X-Chris Abelson[10]; 5. 23-Jim Thies[3]; 6. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[9]; 7. 88-Sean Barragan[2]; 8. 3-Kelly Shryock[5]; 9. 26J-Joel Rust[6]; 10. 82-Jake McBirnie[15]; 11. 55-Jim Cole[1]; 12. 36-Kenny Wallace[18]; 13. 9-Ken Schrader[19]; 14. 21M-Tyler Madigan[20]; 15. V13-Grey Ferrando[21]; 16. 21K-Kyle Brown[13]; 17. 442-Aaron Johnson[22]; 18. 14B-Matt Bonine[4]; 19. 44-Jason Schneiders[8]; 20. 4J-Jordy Nelson[12]; 21. 02JR-Chris Mills[16]; 22. 7N-Jay Noteboom[17]; 23. 15M-Shane DeMey[24]; 24. 25-Ricky Stephan[23]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. V13-Grey Ferrando[3]; 2. 442-Aaron Johnson[4]; 3. 25-Ricky Stephan[9]; 4. 15M-Shane DeMey[7]; 5. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 6. 41-Thor Anderson[2]; 7. 30-Jordan Grabouski[10]; 8. M80-Jim Mathieson[1]; 9. (DNF) 47-Darin Roepke[6]; 10. (DNF) 48-Bob Moore[12]; 11. (DNS) 11X-Tom Berry Jr; 12. (DNS) 11-Trent Loverude

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Jim Thies[2]; 2. 88-Sean Barragan[1]; 3. 4J-Jordy Nelson[7]; 4. 21K-Kyle Brown[8]; 5. 7N-Jay Noteboom[5]; 6. M80-Jim Mathieson[6]; 7. 11-Trent Loverude[4]; 8. (DNF) 25-Ricky Stephan[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Jim Cole[2]; 2. 1X-Chris Abelson[3]; 3. 44-Jason Schneiders[1]; 4. 198-Robby Sawyer[5]; 5. 36-Kenny Wallace[7]; 6. 41-Thor Anderson[6]; 7. 47-Darin Roepke[4]; 8. 30-Jordan Grabouski[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 14B-Matt Bonine[2]; 2. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[6]; 3. 3-Kelly Shryock[1]; 4. 82-Jake McBirnie[4]; 5. 9-Ken Schrader[3]; 6. V13-Grey Ferrando[8]; 7. 15M-Shane DeMey[7]; 8. (DNF) 11X-Tom Berry Jr[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Jeff Taylor[1]; 2. 26J-Joel Rust[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 4. 02JR-Chris Mills[6]; 5. 21M-Tyler Madigan[5]; 6. 442-Aaron Johnson[7]; 7. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 8. 48-Bob Moore[3]